May 2, 2007
Dear Everyone:
I had hoped by this evening to be able to report that I had successfully taken the CRM Exam Parts One through Four and passed each part. Alas, that is not the case.
Last year, the Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM) announced that they were outsourcing the CRM Examination to a professional testing company. Earlier this year, we received emails notifying us that we could go online and sign up with the testing company to take Parts One through Five electronically.
Some of you may recall that I signed up to take Parts One through Five last November. I wound up not taking Parts One and Two because that was the day that I got word that our Mother had passed away and suddenly taking an exam didn’t seem quite so important. I did go into the office the next day and took Parts Three through Five. At that time, it was all on paper. You filled in the little “bubble” with a Number Two pencil and the proctor mailed the completed tests back to ICRM. You found out six to eight weeks later whether or not you passed any of the parts. Miraculously, I actually did pass Part Five.
The professional testing company, in turn, farmed out the actual testing process to thousands of vendors around the world. It turns out the nearest one to me is right here in “Pleasanton”, actually directly across the street from where I work. They only administer tests in the mornings between 8:30 and 11:30. By the time I signed up, the only times available that Monday (it’s still limited to one week at the beginning of May) were 11:15 and 11:30. So I signed up for Part One at 11:15.
I signed up for Part Two at 8:30 on Tuesday and for Part Three the same day at 10:30. And for Part Four at 8:30 on Wednesday. Remembering that I never actually took Part One, I asked the one member of our group, who not only took it but passed, for advice. The advice was to study up on the classic pioneers of Management Theory, to read the first three chapters of the management textbook that we were using and to memorize the answers to the 20 sample questions as any number of them might chance to show up on the test.
So, last Sunday, I finished reading the first three chapters and memorized the answers to the sample questions and concentrated on the excerpts gleaned on the likes of Gilbreth, Maslow, McGregor, Taylor and Deming and so on. (Those of you with MBAs know who I’m talking about. Theory X and Theory Y, yada, yada, yada…)
Monday morning I showed up at the testing site a half-hour (recommended) before the testing time. The administrator signed me in and took me to a windowless room with a couple of computers. She logged into the computer and started the test for me. I was allowed a single sheet of plastic “write on wipe off” material and a pen for notes. I used it to note the numbers of the questions I skipped over on the first pass.
When faced with a multiple-choice test, it’s best to answer the ones you know (or think you know) and skip over the ones you’re not sure about. That way, you get through the test and hopefully have time to go back and consider the skipped questions. There were 100 questions, each with five possible answers, and 80 minutes in which to take the test. One feature that I especially liked was the option to click on a small checkbox in the upper left corner of the screen to mark the question “for review”. That way, you could skip over it and go back later. The system even displayed a screen at the end showing all the “review” (also known as “incomplete”) questions so you could go directly to each one.
I saw only one question about the early pioneers of management theory and only one of the sample questions. I saw a lot of questions about finance and budget and designing and implementing an Information System. And what the heck did they mean by “line-and-staff” and “path-goal”? By the time I finished the first pass, I had over 20 questions listed as skipped.
I still had plenty of time to go back and review the incomplete questions. Sometimes, by the process of elimination, you could narrow it down to just two answers, which gave you a 50-50 chance of guessing right. There was a lot of guessing going on. After the second pass, there wasn’t much point in waiting for the clock to run out. I finished the exam and made a mental note to find a chapter in the management textbook about finances and budgeting and a chapter on leadership.
I returned to the lobby of the testing site and the administrator went to get the report. The advantage to the electronic testing is that you would find out immediately whether you passed or failed (70%=pass). If you failed, you would get information from ICRM about which questions you got wrong and where in the outline to go for further study. The administrator placed the report on the counter and the first thing I saw was “CONGRATULATIONS. You passed the ICRM Exam Part One.”
It was a surprise, but a pleasant one. I immediately erased the mental note about finding a chapter on finances and leadership. Passed is passed.
Monday evening, I stayed up an hour later than usual to study for Parts Two and Three. Part Two is called “Records Creation and Use”, but what it’s really about is Forms Management, Mail Operations and Reprographics (copiers). In other words, all those menial jobs that tend to be dumped on the Records Manager along with running the File Room. Part Three is “Records Systems, Storage and Retrieval.”
Interestingly, Part Two had fewer questions about arcane methods of designing and printing forms and more questions about Email and Instant Messaging (IM). Less about the difference between a rotary camera and a planetary camera and more about Computer Output to Laser Disk (COLD). It’s beginning to look like the ICRM is venturing, ever so warily, into the 21st Century. I passed Part Two.
I took a short break, then plunged into Part Three. Last November I got 67% taking the test cold. With preparation, I had only 15 questions on the skipped list. Part Three passed.
As for Part Four, I was supposed to take it this
morning. But last Monday,
the administrator called to tell me that she couldn’t be at work today
and had to cancel the session.
I contacted the testing company and they were able to get me into
another testing site in
Last November I missed Part Four by one point. And this concept of actually studying before taking the exam appears to have merit. I plan to peruse the chapters on Records Centers (“how many inches should there be between the ceiling sprinklers and the top shelf?”) and Archiving. I won’t say it will be a slam dunk because that would be tempting fate. However, I’m reasonably confident that I’ll pass Part Four as well.
Programming Note:
I’ll be at the
Love, as always,
Pete
| Previous | Next |